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KTMY
KTMY is a dual affiliate of MyTV and MyNetworkTV serving Tulsa, OK, and the Tulsa viewing area. Broadcasting on channel 29, KTMY was owned and operated by Oakhurst Broadcasting. KTMY was launched in 1981 as KCGT. KCGT stayed as an independent until 1995 when they became affiliates with the United Paramount Network, where they remained until 2006 when they left to become an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. On January 30, 2016, KTMY's owner merged with Adelphia Communications and Oakhurst made a deal with BeloOne (Owners of Fox Affiliate KFXT) to sell KTMY and possibly KPTE in Portland, OR. On Apr. 29, 2017, BeloOne sold the station to Tribune Broadcasting. History The station first signed on the air on March 18, 1981 as KGCT; originally operating as an independent station, The station was founded as a joint venture between Green Country TV Associates and Satellite TV Systems. It originally operated from studio facilities located at an office complex on South Harvard Avenue (which now has since been converted into a shopping center). Channel 29 originally planned to run an all-local news programming format; due to financial issues, the station opted instead to carry low-cost syndicated and barter programs and movies during the morning; a two-hour local program hosted by John Erling, Erling on the Mall, at 12:00 p.m. (which was repeated at 2:00); and a three-hour rolling news block from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., featuring a mix of local news as well as national and international news programming from CNN. Nighttime hours were filled by the over-the-air subscription television service In-Home Theatre (IT), which signed on nightly at 7:00 p.m. The news format was ultimately unprofitable and was gradually dropped less than a year later. After that, KGCT's schedule consisted of simulcasts from CNN, religious programs, cartoons, agricultural programming, business news and some barter shows. Entertainment Tonight, at that time a barter program that had not yet become the highly-rated series that it is today, ran on the station for about a year. Overall, the station's viewership was relatively low. In 1982, KGCT switched to a mostly religious programming format, carrying live Christian-oriented shows for several hours a day; the station rebranded as "Tulsa Christian Television," and the meaning behind the station's call letters became "Knit God's Children Together". The station continued to run a few low-budget secular shows, while subscription television programs from IT TV continued air during the nighttime hours until early 1984. After that, the station began filling nighttime hours with low-budget general entertainment programming. By 1985, KGCT-TV was running an all-barter schedule with cartoons, religious programs and low-rated first-run barter shows. At that point, the station was almost sold but the acquisition never went through. Green County Associates bought out Satellite TV Systems at the end of 1985. KGCT was originally slated to become a charter affiliate of the Fox Broadcasting Company, but ultimately signed an affiliation deal with KXTL (now KFXT) instead, due partly to channel 29's lack of carriage on area cable providers. In 1987, heavy freezing rain accumulations caused by a major ice storm in the area caused the collapse of the transmitter tower being utilized by KGCT-TV. Channel 41 would remain dark for four years due to a lack of financial resources to make necessary repairs, as well as the inability to gain a significant amount of carriage on area cable providers. After finally obtaining the needed funds, the station resumed operations during the winter of early 1991After returning to the air, the station initially ran only religious programs and infomercials. During the spring and summer of 1991, KGCT-TV gradually added general entertainment barter programs. By the fall of 1993, the station ran a wide variety of programs on its schedule – consisting of some children's programs during the morning hours, some first-run syndicated shows – including comedies – in the early evenings, off-network sitcoms and drama series, and older movies on weekends. Network Affiliation On January 25, 1994, KGCT (which by 1994 dropped the TV suffix) signed an affiliation agreement to become the Tulsa outlet for the United Paramount Network (UPN), an upstart network founded by Chris-Craft Industries and its broadcasting subsidiary, BHC Communications/United Television, in a programming partnership with Viacom (the latter of which purchased a stake in the network in 1996). The station became a charter affiliate of UPN when the network launched on January 16, 1995; the station subsequently rebranded as "UPN 29". On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation (the rebranded original Viacom, which spun off a new company of the same name) and the Warner Bros. Entertainment division of Time Warner announced that they would sell UPN and The WB to Paramount Stations Group and Turner Broadcasting and make a newly-created network, The CW, which would feature a mix of programs from both UPN and The WB as well as newer shows exclusive to The CW. On April 10, 2006, WB affiliate KCVE (channel 46) was announced as The CW's Tulsa affiliate. The formation of MyNetworkTV, another new service owned by News Corporation's Fox Television Stations and Twentieth Television subsidiaries that was created in order to give UPN and WB affiliates that were not named as affiliates of The CW another option besides becoming an independent, was announced on February 22, 2006, less than one month after the announcement of The CW's launch. KGCT was announced as Tulsa's MyNetworkTV outlet on June 15, 2006. Over a month later, on July 20, Clear Channel filed an application with the FCC to change KGCT's callsign to KTMY, it formally adopted the new calls on August 15. KTMY joined MyNetworkTV when it launched on September 5, 2006, although UPN continues to broadcast on WASDO, another TV station serving the Tulsa, OK market; the station also rebranded as "My29 Tulsa" with the switch. On March 3, 2010, Clear Channel announced that they've sold the station to Oakhurst Broadcasting, and in 2012, KTMY launched their own newscasts. New Owners On Jan. 30, 2016, it was announced that Oakhurst Broadcasting (along with Higgins Broadcasting and Island Television) would merge into Adelphia Communications. Before the announcement, Oakhurst sold the station (and WKBG) to Adelphia. KTMY was sold to BeloOne. During BeloOne's purchase the newscast merged with KFXT's newscast and KFXT is now producing a newscast for KTMY. Also KFXT primetime newscast was moved to 10PM so KFXT and KTMY don't be seen as enemies. On Apr. 29, 2016, BeloOne sold the station to Tribune Broadcasting and announced plans of relaunching their newscast, ending the partnership with KFXT. MyTV affiliation On July 10, 2017, it was announced that MyTV would expand from two hours a night to three hours a night, which would push affiliates that also have Ion Television affiliates to cut Ion's time further. Independence Broadcasting (which owned dual affiliate KBEZ) made the announcement that they would be dropping MyTV from their Ion Television affiliates and become full-time Ion Television affiliates. MyTV, Inc. and Independence made a deal to give the network time to find new affiliates for MyTV in the markets that would be affected by Independence's decision, and as a result, it was decided that KTMY would be the new MyTV affiliate on Sept. 18, 2017, and KBEZ would be a full-time Ion Television affiliate. At Midnight on Sep. 11, 2017, KTMY became the new MyTV affiliate. Programming Schedule (Beginning Sept. 18, 2017) Category:Channel 29 Category:Tulsa Category:Oklahoma Category:MyNetworkTV affiliated stations Category:Former independent stations Category:Former UPN affiliates Category:Television channels and stations established in 1981 Category:Tribune Broadcasting